During the warmer days of the year, typically the summer season, those pursuing outdoor activities tend to become overheated. When this occurs, one may take a shower, rest in the shade, or direct a spray of water onto oneself. In the latter instance, the spray of water is generally from a hose coupled to a source of water, with the hose having a nozzle or like device for dispensing a spray of water. However, such a spray of water may be undesirable due to force of impact of larger water droplets and thermal shock effects due to a large temperature difference between water generally available from a pipe that runs underground and body temperature.
Nozzles exist for providing a fog or mist for the purpose or humidifying air and plants inside greenhouses and are designed to be fixed in a network of permanently mounted pipes in the greenhouse. These nozzles are designed to produce tiny droplets that evaporate quickly and are generally unsuitable for use outdoors irrigating crops because the tiny droplets tend to evaporate before reaching the plant or ground. Nozzles also exist for irrigation purposes and produce a much larger droplet sized to minimize evaporation so that as much water as possible reaches the plant or ground.
Neither of these arrangements are truly satisfactory for cooling an overheated individual in an outdoor situation, as the greenhouse application lacks portability and cannot be conveniently disassembled for transportation and storage. The nozzles for irrigation purposes also may not be readily disassembled for transportation and storage and further produce the larger droplets, which are undesirable as described in the foregoing.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a portable cooling apparatus which uses, as a coolant, water dispersed as a fog and which may be conveniently disassembled for transportation and storage.